Griffin's Birth Story

On our way to the hospital

Waiting

Still waiting

Mark wore his Ken Griffey Jr Shirt

Our sweet little Griffin Mark Wagner made his way into our lives on June 27, 2014 at 9:57 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. 

My due date was June 24 and I was a very impatient mom-to-be. I hadn't slept for the 2 nights previous to June 27th basically at all. Actually, that night I was up until at least 4 am and I finally was so exhausted from not sleeping the night before as well, that I woke Mark up and asked for a blessing to just get some sort of relief and comfort, and luckily I was able to sleep for a few hours after that. I had a non-stress test scheduled for that morning around 10:30, so my alarm went off around 9 am. I turned around to turn off my alarm and felt/heard (not sure which one, maybe both) a pop. Then it felt like I might have peed a little, but I knew I hadn't. Mark was still sleeping and I immediately told him that I was pretty sure my water broke. It took a minute to click, but it finally did. I was scared to get out of the bed because I didn't want it to gush out. But I eventually did and it really just trickled out. I called my doctor since I had an appointment and they said to just go into labor and delivery. Contractions started about a half hour after my water broke, and they were strong and close together pretty much from the get go. We were at the American Fork Hospital by about 10:30 am. 

They put us in the screening room to test my fluid to see if my water really had broke. I was positive but the first test was inconclusive so we had to wait a bit longer. All the while my contractions were killing me. I don't know if I'm just a major wimp, but I did not like those suckers. I had really only had Braxton Hicks contractions up to this point, so I was not enjoying the pain. Finally the nurse concluded that my water broke and we were put into a room. I asked for the epidural right when the nurse said I could get it any point forward. I think that was around 1 pm or so when I finally got it. And it was heavenly! Once that kicked in, I was feeling good. I tried to rest but could never really fall asleep, I think I was just a little to anxious. At one point I remember I got really nauseous so they gave me some Zofran. And then a little later I was feeling some pain in my back so the nurse told me to press the button more frequently so that got me really numb. 

Finally around 5:30 or 6 pm I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing supposedly but like I said I was reaally numb so we tried for a little but it was not very successful. The nurse decided to wait and let me get some feeling back before we tried again. So we waited just a little and started again a little before 7 pm. The nurse said she could see his head and that he should be out in no time at all. That turned out not to be true. I ended up pushing for almost 3 and a half hours. Mark and the nurse were so encouraging though that I really thought I was almost there that whole time. Come to find out, nothing was progressing or happening. But they had me fooled with their cheers and telling me how good I was doing and how close I was. Mark did such a great job at helping me, he would constantly provide me with water and ice chips and would put cold rags on my head. I remember at the beginning he said something about how I was supposed to be all sweaty and that wasn't happening. Well after those 3 hours, I was drenched in sweat so he got his wish ;) Like I said, Griffin's head was right there, but he was pretty much just stuck for 3 hours, which contributed to his massive cone head. Finally the doctor came in and he had to make some lacerations; he also told me my tissue was extremely tough and not very stretchy which wasn't helping the matter. There was some mention of forceps since things still weren't progressing and then all of a sudden Griffin literally shot out. Two of the nurses weren't looking and completely missed it; they were shocked when they turned around and he was finally out. 

First photo!

Cone Head

Our baby boy

He was not crying when he first came out so they barely put him on my chest for just a minute and then took him. He had some fluid in his lungs and they got it out very fast and he finally started crying. Then I started crying, before that I was too worried about him to really grasp what was going on. They took him down to the nursery immediately and Mark went with him while the doctor stitched me up. Then I was all alone for, well I'm not even sure how long. Finally the nurse came in and they put me in our new room. She also told me she was shocked that we didn't end up having to do a C-section. I don't remember the terms she used, but apparently Griff was somehow tilted to the right (I googled it - asynclitism) and face up, and somehow this made it very difficult and complicated. I didn't know any of this until afterwards though. I was also informed that I had suffered a 3rd degree laceration during delivery (TMI?) But Griffin did make it safe and sound, so hearing all this after didn't really scare me too much. Finally Mark and Griffin made it back to me and I got to really hold my baby boy for the first time.

Proud and exhausted mama

Proud dad

The nurse informed us that Griffin had low blood sugar levels so I nursed him and then had to supplement with some formula to get his levels up. We did this the first 24 hours or so and everytime his blood sugar was right on the border. The doctor left it up to us if we wanted to continue just supplementing or if we would like to put him on an IV and slowly wean him off. We decided it was better to be safe than sorry and to do the IV. 

It was hard to see him with so many cords attached to him

So into the NICU our sweet baby went. He did so good though. He was only in there for about a day and a half. The nurse said that low blood sugar is one of the top 3 reasons for babies in the NICU. And although we were very worried of course, every time we went in to see our baby, we passed the little premature babies and felt very blessed. They pumped him full of glucose and then would take his blood sugar levels before and after every time I fed him and if the number stayed within a certain range they would lower the amount of glucose in his IV. I was discharged the night of the 29th but we decided to stay in the hospital and were lucky enough to keep our same room. Griffin was discharged the next morning because his glucose levels leveled out so well! 

My sweet boys

I am absolutely amazed at what I went through, and Griffin went through to get here! The miracle of life is really just that, an absolute miracle. I'm so grateful that we have a healthy baby boy. Mark and I are just completely in love with this little guy. And I am completely in love with my 2 boys. Griffin is just over 3 weeks old now and doing wonderfully! There have been some of the hardest days of my life in these short 3 weeks but they have also been by far the happiest.